The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1887-02-16
HENRY /. NOSSAT, Business Manager.

any point of the score of the game then
playing and defending. Cases stated
to show what may be effected by very
good player in critical parts Of the
game. Calculations directing with
moral certainty how to play well any
hand or game, with variety of cases
added in the appendix. BY gentle
man."
The book had great and rapid sue
cess. Edition after edition was sold,
and Hoyle received one thousand
pounds the first year. He states in
this '.Short Treatise that he has
framed an artificial memory for whist
players, which he will communicate
upon payment of a guinea, and that he
will explain any case in the book upon
payment of one guinea more. Later
editions contain his system of mem
cries, but good players say it is of no
great value. 1t consists of mode of
arranging the suits in your hand that a
keen-eyed opponent may often detect
The effect of Hoyle's PRONUNCIATION
of the game in its improved form ex-
cited a good deal of satire. In the
same year, 1743, there was published a
witty and amusing play on 'sThe
Humors of Whist; Dramatic Satire,
as Acted Every Day at Whites and
Other Coffee Houses" It is
a short comedy, the prin-
cipal characters being Prof. Winston
Hoyle), who gives lessons in the game;
Sir Calculation Puzzle, an enthusiastic
player. who muddles his head with
Hoyle's calculations and always loses;
pupils, sharpers and their dupes. The
object is chiefly to ridicule the preten-
sions of Hoyle and the enthusiasm of
his followers, and to show that skill
and calculations are of no avail against
bad luck or fraud. Hoyle had given
out that he had spent forty years in its
study, and the prologue says:
Who would believe THAT man could e'er exist,
Who spent near half an age in studying whist?
Grow gray with calculation, labor hard,
AS IL lie business cGuIeTeu III d Ctlru!
That such there is, let me to those appeal,
Who with such liberal hands reward his zeal,
Sol whist he makes a science and our peers
Deign to turn schoolboys in their ripper years.
Sir Calculation Puzzle gives some
amusing explanations of his loses. He
says:
"That certainly was the most out-of-
the-way bite ever heard of. Upon the
pinch of the game, when he must in
fallibly have lost it, the dog ate the los
ing card, by which means we dealt
again, and faith he won the game
Another passage is: 81 find, Professor,
your book does not teach how to beat
four by honors. In my opinion there
is still something wanting to complete
the SISTER of whist, and that is dis
sertation on the lucky chair" In adj
dition to whist Hoyle also wrote
treatises on quadrille, piquet, chess,
backgammon and brag.
Hoyle now became the celebrity he
has continued to be down to our own
day. His book, not himself, is fire.
quently mentioned in the literature Of
the eighteenth century. In Tom
Jones" Lord Fellmar says: '1happened
to come home several hours before
my usual time, when find four gen.
tlemen or the cloth (servants) at whist
by my fire; and my Hoyle, sir, my
best Hoyle, which cost me guinea,
lying open on the table, with quanti-
| ty of porter split ON one of the most
material leaves of the whole book
An epic poem on whist by Alexander
Thompson appeared in 1871, which
contains an apostrophe to the spirit OF
Hoyle.
| But why thus vainly hesitates the Muse,
In idle doubt what guardian power to chuses
| What power so we'll can aid her daring toll,
| AS the bright spirit of immortal Hoyle?
| By whose enlightened efforts Whist became
sober, serious, scientific game.
The poet thus goes on to suppose
that the shadowy ghost of Hoyle still
hovers around the tempting boards
arrayed in green.
Still with delight its favorite game regards,
And, though it plays no more, oerlooks the
| cards.
The laws of the game, as propounded
by Hoy]e in 1743, remained the only
recognized authority until 1864, when a
committee of the great whist clubs Of
London revised the old code and added
some new laws. Hoyle's laws are,
however, the basis Whether the game
of whist, if well followed, promotes
longevity, may be question, but it is
certain Mr.. Hoyle is an example that il
does. He died in London on the 29th
of August, 1869, at the age of ninety.
seven. The papers of the day notice
his death, and state that he was well
known in the polite world, and that he
lived to see his treatise on whist pass
through no less than thirteen editions.
And thus, full of years and honors, and
secure of immortal fame, passed away
the father of whist, Edmond Hoyle.--
Chicago Herald.
-Sniffin Tin his own estimation the
| risinp DOetl-Ah do Won know Miss